In order to verify the bioactivity of the rIL-5 protein and thus the authenticity of the

vaccine, we tested the ability of rIL-5 to induce proliferation of BCL-1 cells. As shown in Fig. 1A, rIL-5 induced proliferation of BCL-1 cells in a concentration dependent manner. The highest proliferation rate was induced with 10 ng/ml of rIL-5. This activity was similar to commercially acquired IL-5 (cIL-5). This result demonstrates that rIL-5 was correctly folded and that the His-tag and the Cys-containing linker did not adversely affect the protein. Murine r-eotaxin 1 with a hexa-histidine tag and a cysteine containing linker at its C-terminus was expressed and purified. It has been previously demonstrated that the number of eosinophils circulating in selleck chemical the blood increases in response to administration of eotaxin and the accumulation of eosinophils in response to eotaxin was more selleck chemicals llc pronounced in mice that had been sensitized with OVA [30]. To verify the bioactivity of r-eotaxin, we tested its chemo-attractant activity towards eosinophils in vivo. OVA immunized BALB/c

mice (n = 5) were injected with either PBS or 0.5 μg of r-eotaxin i.v. The number of eosinophils in the blood was assessed 30 min after the injection. As shown in Fig. 1B, the number of eosinophils in the blood doubled in mice which had been treated with r-eotaxin. This results shows that r-eotaxin was efficient Florfenicol at inducing the accumulation of eosinophils in the blood and was thus expressed in an authentic manner. In order to produce Qβ-IL-5 and Qβ-Eot vaccines, rIL-5 and r-eotaxin were both chemically coupled to VLPs derived from bacteriophage Qβ via a heterobifunctional cross-linker. The Coomassie-stained SDS-PAGE demonstrates the presence of rIL-5 (lane 2 of the left panel of Fig. 1C), r-eotaxin (lane 4 of the left panel of Fig. 1D), monomeric (14 kDa) and multimeric Qβ subunits (lane 3 of the left panel of Fig. 1C and lane 2 of the left panel of Fig. 1D). Coupling products whose molecular masses correspond to rIL-5 or r-eotaxin covalently

linked to one or more Qβ monomers are shown in lane 4 of the left panel of Fig. 1C and lane 3 of the left panel of Fig. 1D, respectively. Western blot analysis with either anti-His (middle panels of 1C and D) or anti-Qβ antibodies (right panels of 1C and D) demonstrated the same bands reacted with both antibodies, confirming the covalent attachment of rIL-5 or r-eotaxin to Qβ. In contrast, anti-Qβ antibody did not react with either rIL-5 or r-eotaxin (lane 1 of the right panel of Fig. 1C and lane 3 of the right panel of Fig. 1D, respectively). Analysis of the coupling efficiency by densitometry showed that 47% or 15% of Qβ monomers were cross-linked to rIL-5 or r-eotaxin, respectively. This corresponds to about 80–90 rIL-5 and 25-30 r-eotaxin molecules displayed per VLP.